The Girl On The Train by Paula HawkinsAuthor Website Amazon (UK) Amazon.com Transworld Digital (ebook), 2015
320 Pages
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cosy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She's even started to feel like she knows them. "Jess and Jason," she calls them. Their life - as she sees it-is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.
And then she sees something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but it's enough. Now everything's changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?
She's buried beneath a silver birch tree, down towards the old train tracks, her grave marked with a cairn. Not more than a little pile of stones, really. I didn't want to draw attention to her resting place, but I couldn't leave her without remembrance. She'll sleep peacefully there, no one to disturb her, no sounds but birdsong and the rumble of passing trains.
The Girl On The Train is a great thriller, packed with twists and turns and complex characters. There is a lot of hype about this book. I don't pay attention to hype or use it to make judgement about books. I wanted to read this because it sounded right up my street - the kind of thriller I love. I was right. The book exceeded my expectations. I thought the characterisation was brilliant. The book is narrated from the point of view of three women; Rachel, the girl on the train who's unemployed and has a serious drink problem which has gotten worse since her husband left her for someone else two years before; Anna, the woman Rachel's husband left her for and Megan, the woman Rachel watches from the train and projects her happiness fantasies onto. Rachel is my favourite character, she's so messed up, holding onto her sanity by a thread and wonderfully real. I really like the way the book moves between the viewpoints of these three women so you get to see what's going on from different angles. This can work really well and the author pulls it off. As for the plot? I thought this was a great, original thriller. There was so much going on. This one of those books where the author makes you think about twenty different things are going on and when the truth is revealed at the end of the novel it's the opposite of what you've thought all along. I absolutely love it when an author surprises me. I loved The Girl On The Train.
